China Earthquake

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In May of 2008, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake rattled the mountainous region of China’s Sichuan province. The result: over 90,000 people reported as dead or missing (Rafferty & Fletcher, n.d). However, without the technological innovations of the time, could the death toll have been even higher? Social media, having just blossomed into existence, played a crucial role in providing aid for the millions of people affected by this disaster, but was this an isolated instance? No. Whether it be relaying scientific information or providing humanitarian service, the world has continually seen the benefits of social media when disaster strikes. Before the 21st century, the connection obtained by social media was never presumed possible, but now the world …show more content…
Shortly after the earthquake occurred, Twitter was bombarded with tweets, to the point that the Chinese government could no longer filter posts. The response was so rapid that the Chinese government first found out about the earthquake from social media itself (Shirky, 2009). Consequently, 130,000 soldiers and various relief workers were sent to the disaster-stricken area much faster than what would have otherwise occurred. Additionally, access to external aid was also enhanced (Rafferty & Fletcher, n.d.). Within a half of a day, donation sights were online asking for money to rebuild the devastated Sichuan province (Shirky, 2009). While disaster response and aid are readily available during crises, many are unaware of the emotional support that can also be found on social …show more content…
As Ji Won Kim, Yonghee Kim and Melissa Suran (2015) state in the Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia, “Scholars are realizing the importance of psychological recovery from crisis . . . emotional messages written on social media sites help people feel connected, have hope for the future, and feel encouraged by the support” (para. 12) However, not only emotional messages have proved to benefit people in crisis; social media has provided multiple other outlets to help people deal with these unfortunate events. To illustrate, Facebook has provided a check-in service that posts the exact location of the user directly on their news feed. If effectively utilized, individuals can successfully reconnect with family members and friends in the aftermath of a disaster, but Facebook is not the only social networking site that offers this type of service. “Safe and Well,” a database offered by The American Red Cross, allows individuals to register their name shortly after a disaster; family and friends are then able to search for individual’s names to ensure their safety. Furthermore, Google even contains a disaster-related web application titled, “Google Person Finder.” Like the check-in service created by Facebook and “Safe and Well” by The American Red Cross, Google Person Finder ensures
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